Saturday, February 5, 2011

We love oats in our home and go through about 5 lbs in a month, easy. I love using oats for making chewy granola bars, crunchy granola bars and oatmeal mostly. For the past year I have been buying the organic thick rolled oats from the healthfood store out of the bulk section and keep them in one of my Snapware containers. I have to keep them hidden because if Ethan sees it he has a fit until I give him some to eat. Yes, he eats them raw. Oats are the only thing that I found would boost my milk supply when I was nursing Ethan. If you are a nursing mommy, or soon to be, keep oats in mind. If I didn't have oats one day I noticed a drastic difference in my supply by the late evening. Oats are good for everyone too because they are a whole grain. It's so important to eat organic whole grains because conventionally grown whole grains are sprayed heavily with pesticides.

I was excited to review another Tropical Traditions product and especially because I would be reviewing their organic thick rolled oats. I made oatmeal a few times with the oats and loved them. Actually, that may be an understatement! I have never had oats this thick before. They do take more liquid and more time to cook them when you are making oatmeal, but they are still very creamy and delicious.

Tropical Traditions has many recipes for their organic thick rolled oats if you want new and creative ways to incorporate oats into your diet. I have been reading about Overnight Oats for several months now and have been curious to try them out myself. I put together a simple recipe to share with this review, Banana Walnut Overnight Oats. This recipe knocked my socks off! Don't let "cold oatmeal" scare you, it actually tastes much better than hot oatmeal and it is very soft. All the flavors blend together wonderfully and this tastes more like a dessert than breakfast. I can't wait to come up with other Overnight Oat recipes, I'm totally hooked! I assure you that you'll be seeing overnight oats on my menu plan for a while to come.

Mix oats and milk in bowl. Cover and refrigerate overnight (Mine was in the fridge for 12 hours).

Take out of the fridge and set aside while you gather your other ingredients.

Mix all ingredients into your oats and then enjoy!

Feel free to use more or less milk when you make your overnight oats. You can also use any type of milk you wish.

BUY IT!You can buy directly from Tropical Traditions.

WIN IT! Tropical Traditions is giving away a 5 lb bag of their Organic Thick Rolled Oats to Take Time to Smell the Rose reader!

Tropical Traditions also has a Referral Program, so if you place an order with them as a first-time customer, please select “Referred by a friend” and in the box that says “How did you hear of us?” enter my sponsor ID number 6059810. By telling Tropical Traditions that I referred you, you will receive a complimentary copy of the book Virgin Coconut Oil: How it has changed people’s lives and how it can change yours! by Brian and Marianita Shilhavy with your first order! This book is filled with testimonies and research showing how healthy coconut oil is, and it also includes over 85 recipes showing how one can incorporate coconut into their diet.

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MANDATORY ENTRY(You also must be following my blog publicly on Google Friend Connect)-counts as 1: AND Look around at Tropical Traditions to see what they offer. Tell me an oat recipe from their website that you would love to try.

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Giveaway ends Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 9:00 p.m.(CST) Winner will be drawn by the random number generator at Random.org and will be notified by email. Winner will also be announced on this blog. Winner will have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be drawn.

This giveaway is open to USA & Canadian residents ONLY . Must be 18 years old or older to win.

Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose. Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.The thoughts and opinions expressed on my blog are my own and are not swayed by any monetary or product compensation. My personal health experiences may not be a typical result for others.